I was on the Internet, and I saw this post. This post shows a photo of thermoplastic seaweed, which I thought was impossible. `
BTW, if you're wondering what the difference is between a thermoset and a thermoplastic is, read this.
I am well aware of seaweed-based bioplastics from sources like agar. To my knowledge agar creates a thermoset plastic. I think this because of this study I found online. One of the figures in the study shows the crosslinking of the agarose molecules with hydrogen bonds, effectively creating a thermoset plastic, at least to my knowledge.
I know that there is such a thing called Thermoplastic Starch, or TPS. This is made with amylose and amylopectin, with concentrations of 15-25% and 75-85%, respectively. Agar powder, on the other hand, is comprised of agarose and agaropectin, with concentrations of 65% and 35%, respectively. I believe you can make a thermoplastic out of starch because the large amounts of amylopectin, which is a highly branched molecule, limits the intermolecular bonding between the starch molecules. My source for this claim is from Quora (yes, I know it's not the most trustworthy site).
So, I guess I'm just wondering whether I'm melting the bioplastic wrong, or whether thermoplastic agar is fundamentally possible to create, or if the pictured thermoplastic seaweed is using some dark magic.
Any help would be appreciated! I am also open to other ideas about creating bioplastic from seaweed, too.
